GET READY FOR THE RTPCR REPORT WITHIN 1.5 HOURS

Equine Biotech, a startup incubated at the Indian Institute of Science (IISc), has developed an indigenous RT-PCR diagnostic kit called “GlobalTM diagnostic kit” for accurate and affordable diagnosis of COVID-19. The test kit, based on Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction (RT-PCR), the gold standard for COVID-19 diagnosis, has been approved for use in authorised COVID19 diagnostic labs by the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR). 

The most important thing about the kit is the test takes about 1.5 hours to confirm the presence of SARS-CoV-2 in patient’s samples, according to Utpal Tatu, Professor in the Department of Biochemistry, IISc, and founder of Equine Biotech.

“ Our startup has been working on testing for coronavirus infections for many years, even before the COVID-19 pandemic started. This experience has helped us engineer the kit for COVID-19, ” says Tatu

Prof. Utpal Tatu, Founder, Equine Biotech.

Ramping up testing in the country is crucial for tracking and controlling the spread of this infectious disease. India needs home-grown diagnostics kits that can easily be mass produced and made accessible to a larger population. But so far, only a few Indian companies have developed reliable and accurate RT-PCR kits; most of the kits used widely are imported, and therefore expensive.

” Somewhere in the month of March our honourable Prime minister called upon the Nations scientific community to work towards diagnosing and eradicating the pandemic COVID19,  Prof Tatu our director took it upon himself and inspite of hindrances posed by the lockdown worked tirelessly with his team, his decades of experience in infectious diseases in general and rock solid work in PCR Diagnostics resulted in this highly effective product, I am sanguine that it’ll aide in early detection and subsequent treatment of the disease” said Col. Shakti Rathore  ( Retd), Ceo, Equine Biotech pvt Ltd.

Col. Shakti Rathore  ( Retd), Ceo, Equine Biotech pvt Ltd.

The kit developed by Equine Biotech is an easy-to-use, multiplex RT-PCR kit with 100% specificity, and its run time is among the shortest in the industry, according to its founders. The company is currently seeking to licence its new COVID-19 test kit and work with med-tech companies and other industries for mass producing, distributing, and marketing these kits.

“GlobalTM diagnostic kit” for accurate and affordable diagnosis of COVID-19… 

Equine Biotech has 30 years of experience working on infectious diseases, including zoonotic diseases. The company is founded on the concept of ‘One Health’, which encompasses human as well as animal health and wellness. It has previously developed diagnostic tests for screening livestock, especially cattle and horses, for blood parasitic diseases such as theileriosis and babesiosis.

The most widely-used test is reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR), recommended as the gold standard by World Health Organization (WHO) and Indian Council for Medical Reseach  RT-PCR is almost 100% accurate.